Buying A Betta

[bluesword23516]

Hey everyone! So I want to but my first betta fish soon. I want to put him in our main tank, but because I had a recent camalanus worm attack I am very hesitant. When I decide to buy him I do have a small tank that I used for guppy fry that I can use before hand. 
 
First: does anyone know how long camalanus worms can go undetected? I do not believe my guppy fry have it. Their mother did and when she started to drop she was close to death.  Her fry were underdeveloped.  Anyways she was moved into a fresh bowl of clean water and gave birth to all of her fry. She was immediately taken back into her old tank and died a few hours later.  With the fry I moved them into another fresh batch of water in a five gallon bucket and heated the bucket and kept fresh water in there. 
I also have 4 tetras who show no signs.  I got the fish that was infected on October 5th. This was before I knew about a quarantine tank so he was put strait in.  
 
Second: I want a betta that isn't  very aggressive, I have heard if you take a small mirror to the store and hold it up to their cups the more aggressive ones will flare really fast where the least aggressive will take a longer time.  Is this true? 
I would also prefer to get a female betta, are those very common? 

 

[Barb-barian]

Females are a little less common than males but are not hard to find.  They also tend to be less aggressive than the males. Not sure on the mirror part. 

 

[EllieJellyEllie]

Females and male are very common, and I dont beleive the mirror. As all bettas are aggressive, some just not as much, but will still flare around other bettas.

 

[majerah1]

Females are easy to find at places like Petsmart/ co but keep in mind they can be just as if not more aggressive than the males. Remember the males have finnage to slow them down. 
 
 
As for the camallanus worms, I would invest in some levamisole and treat everyone including new inhabitants just to be safe. 

 

[Wildbetta]

Any fish that were in contact to the infected fish need to be treated (whether showing symptoms or not) before you add any other fish to this tank.
 
There really is no way to tell how one individual betta will be with other inhabitants.  Even if one is fine in one tank with other fish, once you move it into another tank, that upsets the "territory" and the betta can change how it feels about others.  The mirror trick is not a good method to pick out whether one will be aggressive or not.  Some males will never flare at a mirror but will tear apart anything in their territory and others will attack a mirror but be "ok" with other fish. 
 
Females are becoming pretty easy to find at most places that sell bettas especially in the states.  They are just as if not more aggressive than male bettas can be.  If you decide to add a female betta to a community, it needs to just be the one female. 

 

[bluesword23516]

ok, where can I get Levamisole? I have no idea what that is and I can't spend $20 on a remedy.

 

[Wildbetta]

http/www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?medications&1391296211
 
There is a great place to get the treatment here in the US.  If you can not afford to treat the fish in the tank, I would not buy another fish at the moment because the chance of infecting the new fish is very high without treatment.

 

[bluesword23516]

I have some that I am looking at on Ebay, I can buy it directly. 
Do you know how the dosage should go? I have a 38, 10, and 8 U.S. gallon tanks.

 

[majerah1]

You can send a message to the seller and ask about dosing. I have been fortunate enough to not have to buy some of it myself so I could not give accurate directions. I just know from reading around it is the best way to rid your fish of them even before you notice signs of it.